Obama Visits Activists Fasting for Immigration

President Barack Obama, center, meets on the National Mall with people taking part in the “Fast For Families” protest in support of immigration reform.

WSJ Roundup

On the day after Thanksgiving, President Barack Obama visited activists who have been fasting for the past 18 days in protest of the House’s inaction on immigration legislation.

During his visit to the group Fast For Families on the National Mall, where some activists have shunned all food except water, Mr. Obama said he appreciated their “sacrifice and dedication” and told them the country is behind them, according to a White House official. Mr. Obama also reiterated his view that there is still time this year for the House to pass legislation.

House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) has declined to schedule votes on a comprehensive immigration measure the Senate passed this summer. Mr. Boehner has opted for a piecemeal approach, but advocates of a broad immigration bill fear a piecemeal approach would leave out a path to citizenship.

Eliseo Medina of the Service Employees International Union and Dae Joong Yoon of the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium are among the activists.

Unions have been asserting that the GOP will pay a price at the polls next year for inaction on immigration reform. Earlier this month, Mr. Medina told the Journal, ”We want people to know who’s standing in the way of reform.”

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